SC:Ghost is shipping by Dec 31? Cool!
I interpret the “purchased the installation box” bit to mean that you’re counted as a subscriber for your first month, even though you haven’t paid a subscription fee yet.
They aren’t going to count you as a subscriber now and forever just because you bought the box.
Sounds odd, but look at how the phrase is parsed.
“World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access.”
Makes perfect sense to me, assuming they tally their subscribers monthly. If you buy the box, you’re included in the count for that month. Next month you either pay the subscription fee or you don’t get counted.
I believe it’s the standard NPD list.
Yes. From GameSpot:
When asked by GameSpot if the Warcraft universe was all that’s left for the company to mine, chief operating officer Paul Sams said, “No. Absolutely not. We have multiple games in development, currently, they are just not announced… To the outside world–and the reality of it is–we are laser focused on what is the thing right then, but there’s a ton of additional focus being put toward these other [games] that are in development.”
Reflecting on the existing franchises, Sams emphasized, “World of Warcraft and the Warcraft franchise is not the last and the only franchise we are going to operate within. We have two other very, very key franchises to our company’s history and to our company’s future success. The Diablo and Starcraft franchises are of the utmost importance to us as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new franchise from us at some time in the future; there’s certainly a desire to do so.”
I’m also astonished by AoE3 sales!
I personally was so disappointed by the Demo that I decided I would never buy it, even if it was only 5 dollars! People must be buying it based on it’s marketable name, not on the game itself!
Most dreaded dream in the gaming industry: “A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?”
Hee hee hee…
;)
Is this sarcasm? The exclamation points lead me to think so…
I’m not saying that AoE 3 is a bad game. It is a very good, if overly familiar, game. Even the hardcore players I’m familiar admit that there’s not a whole lot original or interesting here. It got a middling review from CGW. A middling review from CGM. And other middling reviews here and there as well as the expected enthusiastic ones.
But there it is in the top ten eight months later. Not many games can do that, especially RTS. The Age of Empires name has added value. It is a power franchise. This is not meant as an insult; in fact it is testimony to Ensemble’s power to create a fan base and maintain it through quality product. Did the excellent Act of War sell this well? Nope. Will the amazing BfME2 be in the top ten in five months? Doubt it. Will the also very good Rise of Legends be there in eight? Not a chance, unless they get an expansion out in that time.
Troy
Is there any way to get copies sold/$ made like you see in the NPD threads on NeoGAF? It’d be “fun” to compare the numbers to the top 20 console games and see if PC gaming really is domed…
Well like I said, I have access to individual retailers top 25 sales lists monthly lists and it doesn’t even remotely reflect that.
One of the things I’ve come to recognize over the past few months is that some of these lists have to be taken with a grain of salt.
I will say that I think AOE3’s appeal is genuine (it really is selling very well). It demonstrates the power of making a strategy game that people can relate to. Same for Civilization 4.
It will be very interesting to see how well Rise of Legends does in the long term. Terrific game but not as easy to relate to as a Age of Empires or Civilization IV.
Do those retailers report to NPD? Pretty sure that most retailers report to them with a few exceptions (Walmart being the most notable) but NPD does extrapolate for those retailers they don’t receive reports for.
Looks like Rise of Legends is already out of the top 10. I’m pleased that RoL lasted as long as it did, but it’s no surprise to see it go so soon. While online woes, an unconventional mythology, and a few middling, but major, reviews are probably mostly responsible for RoL’s quick decline, I can’t help but wonder if better overall production values could’ve extended the game’s life. The campaign, VOs, sound effects, story, and characters are either underwhelming or terrible, and they don’t live up to the level of quality one would expect based on the excellent pre-release artwork, screeshots, and cinematic or to other recent genre releases.
Basically, some crucial production-related deficits detract from the game’s overall personality. I think this stuff really matters to alot of people. Great production can make an impenetrable setting penetrable and relatable. It can really get people excited about the world that’s been created when it’s done right. It can be the hook that draws players into the gameplay and facilitates a healthy, long term community and retail lastability. In Rise of Legends, it should have been better.
Well, that’s for a single week, so it could still make the monthly list. Maybe all the EBs will run out of Sims games to sell. Or there will be a Sun Idol nude hack.
But, yeah, I think that it staying top ten for June is remote, mostly because of the mythology of the game. The packaging doesn’t scream “epic RTS” and even if you can find a description, you have a group named after a ninja turtle, some vaguely Aladdin sounding thing and Cuotl, which is some Aztec god doohickey. Try to sell that in Peoria where they already know what an elf does, who Tolkien is and what a pikeman is supposed to look like.
One of my problems with RoL is that the setting just seems so random. Now, I know that it isn’t; that BHG spent a lot of time thinking about racial origins, types of weaponry, and some sort of justification for the different groups being in the same place. But I’m not sure it works as a whole, and I bet that it is turning away the mass of gamers.
A vocal minority of gamers want innovation. New stuff. New lands to explore. Etc. The rest are happy with things they already know. The pull of the familiar is powerful.
Troy
(Alexx checks his records…) Well, it dipped as low as #6 in 10/2005 and 3/2006.
(I’m missing numbers for 4/2006, anyone got those? Or the full list for 12/2005?)
And the lack of EQ2 on the list is also telling (has it ever been on the top 20 list?).
In the records I’ve got, it actually had 3 slots in the top 20 in its launch month (various editions at #6, #7, and #10), but hasn’t been back since. One of the expansions showed at #11 in 9/2005.
NPD is notorious for undercounting sales; just ask any publisher. :) Also, they don’t catch digital distribution.
Bruce
The common denominator for all of those titles (except for Age of Empires) is they can all be found in stores selling computer games. Gamestop, EBGames, of course, but more importantly Circuit City, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. Your average niche title is lucky to get shelf space at Gamestop for a week, let alone mass market penetration.
You sir are very smart (or I am very dumb). The closest store I go to when I’m looking for games is a Target. All of the top 20 games listed here are on sale at my Target - and not a whole lot else (actually, they DO get in the latest releases and even have them on an endcap - stuff like RoL or XMen or BfME2, but the majority of the shelf space is those games listed in the first post, including AoE III).
I remember reading that Rise of Legends was the 4th best seller for its debut month of May, but now I can’t find the list to back me up. Either way, I don’t think it’s going to place for June or any month thereafter, though I’d love to be proven wrong. Rise of Legends deserves a sizable player base, even though it’s not built to earn one. God, the lobby interface alone is a thing of beauty; if only it worked.
But, yeah, I think that it staying top ten for June is remote, mostly because of the mythology of the game. The packaging doesn’t scream “epic RTS” and even if you can find a description, you have a group named after a ninja turtle, some vaguely Aladdin sounding thing and Cuotl, which is some Aztec god doohickey. Try to sell that in Peoria where they already know what an elf does, who Tolkien is and what a pikeman is supposed to look like.
One of my problems with RoL is that the setting just seems so random. Now, I know that it isn’t; that BHG spent a lot of time thinking about racial origins, types of weaponry, and some sort of justification for the different groups being in the same place. But I’m not sure it works as a whole, and I bet that it is turning away the mass of gamers.
A vocal minority of gamers want innovation. New stuff. New lands to explore. Etc. The rest are happy with things they already know. The pull of the familiar is powerful.
Troy
Yeah, the mythology is obtuse and a bit disjointed. I do believe this hurts the game’s salability, but I also think a company that’s more competent with their RTS storytelling and production values, like EA, Ensemble, or Blizzard, could’ve presented Rise of Legend’s mythology in a much more compelling manner. For the sake of example, let’s just pretend that one of those three did do just that under the Big Huge Games moniker; we don’t want to bias sales with a major company’s name. I think it would sell at least a little bit better than it has.
Edit: Looks like RoL actually placed 7th
I checked the German charts today and, boy, RoL didn’t really perform that well over here. I think it premiered at #30 and got #35 in the second week.
-Julian